Furniture construction



June 29, 1954 B. F. HAMILTON FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Aug. 6, 1945 IN V EN T 0R. 55197-15 fiH/PM/L Tang,

Patented June 29, 1954 FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION Bertis F. Hamilton, Columbus,lnd., assignor to Hamilton Manufacturing Corporation, Columbus, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Original application August 6, 1945, Serial No. 609,121. Divided and this application June 22, v 1950, Serial No. 169,585

3 Claims.

1 .This application is a division of my prior application Serial No. 609,121, filed August 6, 1945, now abandoned. ,The invention concerned. relates to a stool or similar article of furniture provided with vertically extending supporting legs. More particula'rly,the invention relates to a brace structure located intermediate the vertical extent of the legsand serving to interconnect them and to strengthen and stiffen the sup port which they provide.

It has heretofore been proposed to intercon nect the legs of a stool or similar article by encircling them with and securing them toa ringlike brace. To facilitate application of such brace to the legs, it has .beenzcommon to make it of. non-continuous form, or even to make it in sections; and the necessity of interconnecting the ends of the brace or of adjacent brace-sections to provide the desired rigidity and pleasing appearance has presented a problem.

It is an object of the present-invention to produce an improved'brace structure for interconnecting the legs of a stool or similar article of furniture. Another object of the invention is to produce a brace structure especially applicable to sheet-metal legs of arcuate cross-section. Still another object of the invention is to employ an improved arrangement for joining the overlapping ends of a brace structure which encircles and is secured to the legs of a stool or the like.

In carrying out the invention, the brace is formed to encircle the legs it is to interconnect and to have overlapping ends meeting at one of such legs. The inner one of such overlapping ends is formed to seat against the exterior surface of the associated leg, while the outer one is shaped to fit against the outer surface of the inner one. The inner one of the overlapping ends is provided with an opening which receives an inwardly offset portion on the outer overlapping end; and such offset portion and the associated leg are provided with aligned openings for the reception of a clamp bolt.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the invention: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a step stool in which the invention has been embodied; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2--2 of l; and Fig. 3 is a fragmental horizontal section on an enlarged scale, on the line 3-3 of Fig. l.

The particular stool shown in the drawing comprises a seat IE! to which there are attached four seat-supporting legs ll. Below the seat, the front and rear legs of each side of the stool are interconnected by a strut I2; and below the strut l2, all four legs are interconnected by a brace which encircles them, and which in the stool structure illustrated, consists of separate front and rear sections !3 and M, the front section l3 extending between the two front legs and the rear section I l being generally U-shaped and extending continuously from one front leg to the adjacent rear leg, between the adjacent rear legs, and thence to the other front leg. Links 55 pivotally connected with the brace IZ-and with the sides of the rear-brace It interconnect the stool with a ladder l6 andprovide for movement of the ladder from the eXtended-full-line posi tion through the dotted-line position to the re tracted chain-line position shown in Fig. l. The particular stool shown and described is employed herein merely for purposes of illustration, as my invention is not concerned with any particular type of stool but rather with the manner in which overlapping ends of the brace l3|4 are secured together and to the legs ll In the specific structure shown in the drawing, the brace which interconnects the four legs is, as previously noted, formed of two sections 13 and M. The ends of the front section [3 meet the ends of the rear section It in overlapping relationship at the two front legs of the stool. As indicated in Fig. 3, each end of the brace-section I 4 engages the outer face of the adjacent leg H and is overlapped exteriorly by the adjacent end of the front brace-section I3. The outer of the overlapping brace ends and the adjacent leg H are provided with aligned openings for the reception of a clamp bolt 28. The inner one of the overlapping ends is likewise provided with an opening, co-aXial with the bolt 26, but such opening is considerably larger than the bolt and receives an inwardly projecting boss 2| formed on the outer one of the overlapping brace-ends.

In the preferred form of construction, the legs II and the brace l3|4 are formed of sheetmetal. Desirably, in the plane of the brace l3-I 4 the legs are of the generally semi-circular section indicated in Fig. 3. To increase the strength and rigidity of the brace, as well as to enhance its appearance, its sections may be formed to have an outwardly convex arcuate cross-section. The inner of the overlapping brace-ends is desirably shaped to provide a seat M for the leg H which it engages, and the outer of the overlapping brace-ends is shaped to fit against the exterior surface of the inner braceend. The boss 2! is conveniently formed by inwardly off-setting the metal of the outer overlapping brace-end, and preferably has a diameter great enough to permit it to receive the head of the bolt 20.

Where the brace crosses legs other than those which brace-ends overlap, it is desirably shaped, as by a slight outwardly offsetting, to provide seats 24 (Fig. 2) which receive such legs and to which the received legs are secured by bolts 25.

In the step-stool shown in the drawing, the front brace-section I3, in addition to cooperating with the rear section 14 to provide a ringlike structure which encircles and interconnects the legs, also provides a support for the ladder IS in both extended and retracted positions of such ladder. To prevent interference of the front brace section with the ladder, its mid-portion is offset inwardly of the stool; and to adapt it for its function in supporting the ladder, it is formed with channel-like seats 26 adapted to receive horizontally extending portions of the ladder. Where the stool or other article embodying the invention of this application includes no such ladder as is shown in the drawing, the peculiar characteristics of the front brace-section just noted may be omitted. The number of sections constituting the brace may vary; but I prefer to form it in two sections, as its manufacture is thereby facilitated.

The inwardly concave cross-sectional shape of the brace insures that as the clamp bolts and are tightened the upper and lower edges of each leg-receiving seat in the brace will be drawn firmly into contact with the leg. As a result of this contact, the brace opposes any tendency of any leg to rotate about the axis of its associated clamp-bolt 2!] or 25, thus contributing to the strength and rigidity of the support which the legs provide. The interconnection which each boss 2| provides between overlapping brace-ends relieves the associated clamp bolt of shearing stresses.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an article of furniture, an upper, generally horizontal load-sustaining member, legs secured to said member in spaced relation and extending downwardly therefrom, a brace interconnecting said legs at an elevation intermediate their vertical extent, said brace having overlapping end portions one of which lies against one of said legs and is provided thereat with an opening, the other of said overlapping end portions having a boss received and fitting such opening to locate the overlapping ends in relatively fixed position, said boss being provided within its limits with a second opening, the leg being provided with an opening aligned with said second opening, and a bolt extending through said openings for clamping the overlapping portions and leg together, the first mentioned of said overlapping end portions having means which engage the leg at points spaced above and below the boss and prevent said boss from engaging the leg when said bolt is tightened.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1 with the addition that said brace lies exteriorly of said legs.

3. The invention set forth in claim 1 with the addition that said brace is formed of sheet metal having an inwardly concave arcuate cross-sectional shape, the edges of said brace constituting the means which engage the leg and hold the boss from contact therewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,407,403 Garst Feb. 21, 1922 2,306,879 Hamilton et a1 Dec. 29, 1942 2,408,337 Panzer Sept. 24, 1946 2,471,740 Hamilton May 31, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 348,346 Germany Feb. 6, 1922 357,047 Germany Aug. 15, 1922 

